Spine China: Zhuo Hongqian's Story

Spine China is a TFish Fund Friend Member, established in March 2010. The NGO helps provide medical assistance to disabled individuals. The following article is about a girl named Zhuo Hongqian and her condition. To learn more about this NGO, please click here.
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Zhuo Hongqian is from Yu Cheng City in Shandong province. Shortly after birth, she was abandoned by her parents and was adopted by another family that lived on subsidies. Zhuo Hongqian has had double hip dislocation as a child, but since her family was unable to afford the medical bills, she has suffered painfully all of her life.

Hongqian was raised by the grandmother in the family, but when she was 20 years old, her grandmother passed away. This meant that this woman, who couldn't walk and was incontinent, now had to take care of herself. Simple chores for ordinary people are very difficult tasks to accomplish for her. She has to climb to places where her wheelchair cannot pass; and her skin, especially on her legs and hips, are ridden with bedsores that have decayed to the bone.

Desperate for treatment, Hongqian went on the road for help. After years of searching, she got help from the society. She received a catheter so that she could urinate properly, and also received 2000 RMB (~$317 USD) from the Happy Giving Association. Although many such good-hearted people have tried to help her, her condition remained critical, and her medical costs continued to rise.

Due to her urgent need to get further treatment, the Spine China started to help. They enrolled her in a treatment project, and used various resources to try to save the bright, but ill-fated, woman. Last year, Zhuo Hongqian got to travel with the Spine China to Wuxi for the Chengdu Youth Leadership Training Camp. During this time, she used her wheelchair to get around by herself. It is difficult imagining a paralyzed woman traveling so far away alone, but with courage she finished the journey and along the way touched the hearts of many people.

In December of 2011, she went to Beijing for a checkup. The doctors told her she needed to receive treatment for her bedsores as soon as possible; otherwise, they could potentially  threaten her life. Hongqian’s problem was very serious, but with even with our donations she was far from meeting the operational costs. She got in touch with a traditional Chinese medicine doctor in Chengdu, and they decided to have Hongqian go to Chengdu to receive suggested conservative treatment using traditional Chinese medicine.

In early March 2012, Hongqian went to Chengdu to get treatment. Thankfully her life has started to settle down; nonetheless, we will continue to report on this brave young woman.
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Original Article translated by Shishi Ma, edited by intern Kaitlyn Cheung.